Patrick Bet-David, CEO of online content company Valuetainment, offered former Fox News host Tucker Carlson a $100 million deal over five years, plus a board seat at the company, in a high-profile courting attempt on Tuesday.
“Dear Tucker, I’ll get right to the point. We want you to partner with us in what we feel is a noble and necessary effort to define the future of media,” David, who also hosts the Valuetainment brand’s podcast, wrote in the opening of the letter of intent posted on Twitter on May 2.
The letter outlines David’s offer to Carlson: $100 million over five years, an equity stake in Valuetainment, a position as the President of Valuetainment, a board seat, and other content Carlson may be interested in covering.
“What else? We are all ears,” David wrote. “Our convictions about freedom, liberty, and truth run deep and we believe we are the absolute right fit for you and America.”
With a motto of “to enlighten, entertain and empower,” Valuetainment currently publishes its content, including podcasts and interviews, on YouTube and other social media platforms. Its YouTube channel has over 4 million subscribers, and its social media platforms, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, have a following of over 10 million. The brand’s podcast, PBD Podcast, ranks 12th on Spotify in the platform’s business category as of writing.
The brand’s podcast has hosted prominent figures in various fields, including the late basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson, current presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., legal scholar Alan Dershowitz, celebrity scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and investor Robert Kiyosaki. The company’s most-watched YouTube video, featuring an interview with a mafia boss, has over 18 million views.
Valuetainment’s Tuesday offer joins a number of media companies—as the first public one—that are reportedly considering or have extended invites to Carlson to join their roster after the top-rated TV personality parted ways with his former employer last Monday.
In an interview with talk show host Megyn Kelly on Tuesday, David, a refugee who fled from Iran to America at the age of 12, said Carlson should work with him because he has “the vision in place, the cause in place, and is a true believer on how great of a country America is that is worth fighting for.”
David also said that he sees Carlson as someone who truly believes in a cause.
“You know what’s the best indicator to find out who was all about money and who was all about a true vision and a cause? The moment people make money—watch how they react,” he told Kelly. “When people make money, most people slow down—it was all about money. But when you make money and accolades, and when you get stopped in the streets, at the airport—everywhere you go … and you still get up in the morning with the same fire in your belly to go out there to do the fight—it was never about money for you.”
“There are very few people left in America left at that level who have made the money that’s about a true cause—I think Tucker’s one of them.”
Valuetainment’s main website posted the offer on its home page on Tuesday.
A screenshot of Valuetainment’s home page, valuetainment.com, on May 2,2023. (Screenshot by The Epoch Times)
The offer, on its surface, stacks up in the same order of magnitude as Carlson’s reported salary at Fox, which, according to an article published by Forbes in April, was between $15 million and $20 million a year.
“While we may not be the biggest media company, we are a new media leader driving into the future to make truth, fair debate, and commentary more accessible, consumable, and protected,” the company’s Monday letter reads.
Sudden Split
Before being dropped by Fox, Carlson’s program “Tucker Carlson Tonight” was one of cable news’s consistently top-rated programs for years and a leading program in the coveted 25–54 demographic.
It ranked as the second most-watched cable television show in 2022, boasting an average of 3.3 million viewers per night.
In March, the program drew the highest audience ratings on cable TV, averaging 3.251 million viewers per show, according to Nielsen data shared by Fox News.
HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 17: Tucker Carlson speaks during 2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on November 17, 2022 in Hollywood, Florida. (Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images
Following its April 24 announcement dropping Carlson, Fox Corporation took a nearly $1 billion hit—around 3 percent—to its market value on the same day, trading at a low of $29.27, adding to its more than 16 percent decline in the last 12 months. Neither Fox News nor Carlson has commented publicly on the separation.
Fox also suffered a ratings loss on Monday night without Carlson. The company has said that host Brian Kilmeade was the first of a rotating slate of hosts who will replace Carlson on Fox’s temporary program “Fox News Tonight” until a new host is named.
A company spokesperson told Reuters that Fox’s Monday show was still ranked top across the board. He said it grew from the last show hosted by Carlson on Friday, pointing to Nielsen data that showed it pulled in about 2.6 million viewers.